Meeting of Experts on Demonstration Projects held in New Delhi, India on 24-

69 Annex 2 Contd BOX 3. PRIORITY-SETTING ACTIVITIES OF SEAR MEMBER STATES ON HEALTH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Country Bangladesh  Identification of research priorities in Bangladesh falls under the purview of the Bangladesh Medical Research Council BMRC, a national organization under the Ministry of Health Family Welfare MOHFW.  In 2011, WHO SEARO requested the Bangladesh to examine the “National RD priorities for Bangladesh and identify priority demonstration projects based on the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry’s needs for improved technology and their capabilities for technology absorption, as per road map suggested by the Consultative Expert Working Group CEWG on Research and Development  The following priority innovative projects were identified: a. Phytochemical profiling, standardization and quality control of traditional and herbal drugs to ensure their safety and efficacy; b. Discovery of the new chemical entities from medicinal plants, microbes and marine sources. c. Process Development and Validation to Synthesize Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients APIs: Laboratory Scale to Industrial Scale through Pilot Scale production of bulk drugs. d. Production of high value biopharmaceuticalscatalysts by recombinant DNA technology and fermentation technology. Bhutan  Initiated a process for research priority setting in November 2014 where a workshop was held and a report is yet to be published India  Priority setting in India is done based on the following: o Global Forum for Health Research GFHR, ACHR framework o WHO SEARO- Regional Priorities o The WHO-India Country Cooperation Strategy CCS 2012-2017 o National Institute of Health- Global Priority Indonesia  The National Research Agenda 2010-2014 covered the development of vaccines, drugs of raw materials, traditional medicines, health and medical devices, etc.  The National Research Agenda 2015-2019 on health sector is going to be finalised based on burden of disease  MoH Decree no.872013 provides road map on drugs raw materials development Myanmar  National Health Policy of Myanmar has a policy guidance to encourage conduct of medical research activities not only on prevailing health problems but also giving due attention to health system research.  Promotion of Health Research should be done with the objective of conducting health researches that will contribute to health sector development